Review: Shadows in the Darkness by Elaine Cunningham

Gwen knows she’s
different, but doesn't know what she is and she suffers because of it. She is
former cop turned private investigator specializing in finding lost and
kidnapped girls, like she, herself is lost. And the city of Providence’s steamy underside is where she’s
doing most of her work, and she’s good at it, so good that she easily convinces
club owners and vice bosses that she is her disguise: a sexy lap dancer, a
woman making men turn their eyes at her wherever she goes.

She’s a very
believable «heroine». There aren't many unconvincing events in the book. The
story feels very much like real life. Perhaps she is too much in denial when
she discovers her true inheritance, and the fact that a sensual woman doesn't
have sex during the book are the only things I find a bit frustrating and
unlikely.

It’s not a genre
book, another point in Elaine’s favor, the way I see it. If you must label it,
call it «urban fantasy».

Elaine has mostly
done licensed work. I guess she earns more money doing that than on her own
stories and that is too bad. I will skip the Forgetting Realms, Star Wars and
stuff like that and keep reading her real stuff.

This book is out of
print. I was lucky to find it at the local library. Again we see an example of
how quality fails to become a bestseller.

About me

Lise has turned twenty-five and doesn't like it very much. They say it's halfway to fifty. Aside from that Lise has no problems. She has earned a philosophy masters degree at the University of Bergen, and is indeed a very philosophical person, something expressing itself in a number of ways. Lise is Lise, but is otherwise very mysterious, and even though you may feel you recognize her, you would be wrong. She is probably not the mature, sophisticated woman in the office near you.